Human Factors International is a business with 25 years of global services in user-centered design. They publish an annual summary of academic papers on the topic of user interaction (how people react to and interact with websites and other products). This year’s summary includes the following, under the heading Credibility and Trust
Design is a key determinant to building on-line trust with consumers. For motivated users of an information site, bad design (busy layout, small print, too much text) hurts more than good design helps. (Sillence, Briggs, Fishwick, and Harris, 2004)
Experts and novices evaluate the trustworthiness of sites differently. Experts tend to rely more on reputation of the authors, and the business goal of the organization presenting the site. Novices evaluate based on look and feel. (Stanford, Tauber, Fogg, and Marable, 2002)
The full text is available here——-